The Myanmar authorities Saturday further cut its original 8-hour curfew imposed on the biggest city of Yangon to four hours which is to last from 11 PM to 3 AM (local times), according to an announcement broadcast by loudspeakers on the authorities' vehicles patrolling around the city.

 

The curfew had been cut short for the first time on October 2 to 6 hours from 10 PM to 4 AM instead of the original 9 PM to 5 AM.

 

The Yangon Division General Administrative Department authorities issued on Septmeber 25 night an 8-hour curfew order and banned gathering of more than five people in Yangon for 60 days until November 23, which applies to almost all townships in Yangon, to calm down demonstrations by Buddhist monks and people.

 

A compiled statistics based on the official figures showed that a total of 10 protestors have been killed and 16 other civilians injured by shots fired by the security forces, while 45 government security forces members wounded during clashes amid the ban.

 

Meanwhile, the Myanmar authorities have so far released 1,215 protestors out of 2,093 detained for being involved in recent demonstrations in Yangon and freed 398 monks out of 533 taken away by the government security forces for interrogation during recent raids on some monasteries in Yangon under curfew.

 

Since September 18, Buddhist monks and people had taken to the streets to stage demonstrations in Yangon and other parts of the country, demanding for bringing down commodity prices, improving people's living conditions and seeking national reconciliation.

 

The authorities charged the demonstrations and later unrest with being stirred up by anti-government internal and external groups as well as some Western leading broadcasting stations.

 

(Xinhua News Agency October 14, 2007)